Mary Louise Hoffend

 Mary Louise O'Hollihan Hoffend was born in Paw Paw Michigan   ( "They liked it so much they named it twice ", said her daughter Bernice ).   She started out being a school teacher in a one room schoolhouse,  Later she became a seamstress of fine men's clothes. At a Catholic church picnic she met a handsome     (aren't they all ?)       German immigrant named Herman Hoffend, who was 2 or 3 years younger than her. She was attracted to his beautifully tailored clothes at first. He couldn't speak English and she couldn't speak German  --  but who cared ! He had come to this country at the invitation of an older brother, a Jesuit priest (Father Wilhelm Hoffend, S.J.)

who taught classic languages at the University of Detroit. Herman's main impetus was to avoid being drafted for 25 years into the German army in the Franco-Prussian war. In other words he was a draft dodger. Years later he was forgiven. He was a master butcher, having been trained so in Dusseldorf. They had seven children, five girls and two boys. Bernice was the youngest and, according to her, the apple of her Papa's eyes. She was the only child to attend and graduate from high school - which wasn't unusual in those days. Grandma wanted the boys to go to high school but Grandpa insisted they start working in the slaughterhouse after completing the 8th grade. Bernice was born when her mother was 48 years old. Her mother stayed in her bed during the entire pregnancy. After she was born, Bernice was cared for almost entirely by her oldest sister, Nellie, who was in her early 20's at the time. When Bernice was in her 60's and Nellie in her 80's, Bernice asked Aunt Nellie, "Nell, are you my real mother ? I've always wondered. " Aunt Nellie answered, " No, sweetheart, Ma was your real mother. She was just too old to raise another child and left it up to me, which I did with pleasure." Grandma Mary Louise Hoffend was very involved in parish church affairs. She was the president of the Women's Guild, for example, and was in charge of their whist parties, parish picnics, etc. She took herself very seriously. The Hoffends were well off for those days. They had the first automobile in the parish. Bernice, at 16, was the only one who knew how to drive, so she chauferred her parents everywhere - to the joy of all 3 of them. According to Bernice, Grandma Hoffend used to drive her husband nuts, so much so that he would go out and bang his head against the barn wall. [ That's where you got it, boys ! ] Grandma died of stomache cancer in 1934. My mother took us to visit her while she was lying in bed in early 1934, just before we left for Delaware, Ohio. All I (Dan) remember is a frail little old lady looking at me with a weak smile and saying nice things. Grandma and Grandpa went to Germany in the 1920's, I think, to visit his family. She didn't like it much, and they knew it. Their descendants complained 50 years later that she brought a huge amount of luggage and changed costume every few hours, according to their family legend. She was glad to get home, according to Bernice and Nellie. Her daughter Bernice loved her dearly.

  An interesting story about GreatGrandma's father, Dennis O'Hollihan, is that he left the family for the California goldrush in the middle 1800's. He came back a couple of times and got her mom pregnant again. The last time he went back to California he never returned. Bernice understood he remarried in California, without getting a divorce, and had a second family in San Francisco. Once when Nellie came to visit, she and Bernice went up to S.F. to visit some mysterious people, but all she said was they certainly weren't very friendly. I never followed up on it.

   Bernice told me the family rumor was that her Grandfather O'Hollihan had invented some sort of roll-up window shade. Period.

  [ Note :  the correct spelling of the surname may be "O'Hallihan" rather than "O'Hollihan" . The "O'Hallorans" were a different branch of the family. "Bill OHalloran, Sr."

married one of the Hoffend girls, Bernice's older sister Marion, I believe. ]

                         Dan Donovan   5/27/08

Steve Campi has a series of pictures with written information that he received from Dan Donovan upon his return from a visit to Germany. Included with the information about the German relatives was the picture of Mary that I uploaded here. The info also said "born 1858 in Paw Paw, Mich., died 1934, called Mattie - pronounced M - long a - t - y." The birth date of 3/26/1858 and death date of 10/22/1934 is from her wedding picture in my possession. More info about the wedding picture is in the "About Me" section of Herman Hoffend.